The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union has approached the authors of the UN report on the freedom of association and the situation of legal defense agencies regarding the Hungarian government's control of civil society, which breaches both national and international law. In its letter, HCLU asks the addressees to use all available means in order to stop the violation of Hungarian civil organizations' rights.

The Minority Rights Group (MRG), an international rights organization published today its Annual Report focusing on hate crimes and hate speech against minorities in European countries. State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2014 presents compelling examples and case studies from Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. The author of the Hungarian case study is Eszter Jovánovics, Head of the HCLU’s Roma Program.

We consider the attempts by the Government Control Office (GCO) to audit our programs financed by the Norway NGO Fund a political attack. We will reveal everything to the public, but not to the government, which has no jurisdiction over this sphere of activities. As advocates of freedom rights we often urge citizens to actively protect their rights. Now the time has come for us to protect ourselves against this politically motivated unlawful attack. We consider the accusations that we use the Norwegian money to support LMP (Politics Can Be Different) and other leftwing liberal parties absurd. We always criticise those in power for abusing their power and violating rights; that’s what we always did, and that’s what we still do.

HCLU considers attempts by the Hungarian Government Control Office (Kormányzati Ellenőrzési Hivatal, KEHI) to control programs supported from the Norwegian NGO Fund to be part of a political attack.

During Thursday's demonstration of solidarity, more than 60 organizations from 20 countries expressed their support for Hungarian civil society organizations against the actions of the government.

The International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) invites you to a discussion on police use of force and human rights' protections in social protests. The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Christof Heyns, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, Maina Kiai, are addressing these issues in their annual reports and will explain the challenges we are facing.